As we were finishing this politically themed issue in
mid-August, the national political scene was heating up.
But the Homewood campus was preternaturally quiet, in that
drowsy lull before students return for the start of the
academic year.

What, I wondered, would autumn bring, in terms of student
political involvement? In this crucial presidential
election year, with the nation at war, will Hopkins
undergrads veer toward activism or apathy? To get some
idea, I turned to political science professor Matthew
Crenson, A&S '63, whose arrival on the Hopkins faculty in
1969 coincided with a traffic-blocking student protest
against the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

"That sort of thing doesn't happen anymore," Crenson told
me with a chuckle, "but I have noticed an upsurge in
student political interest over the past several years.
It's not 1970 all over again, but there has been a definite
change in mood and rise in political [involvement] among
Hopkins students."

Crenson said he's seen undergrad political activism wax and
wane over the decades. Most notably, after Richard Nixon
resigned as president, he says, political interest
"declined precipitously" ("as did enrollment in my
courses," he added ruefully).

More recently, however, Crenson said he's been surprised to
see a spike in political interest. First sign: Last year
students asked him to moderate a debate between the College
Republicans and College Democrats in the AMR dorms. "I knew
from experience these things got little turnout," he said.
But he arrived to find a standing-room-only crowd. And the
spirited debate that followed drew a vociferous response
from many in the audience. Sign #2: Crenson mistakenly
forgot to put a cap on this fall's Urban Politics and
Policy course, a class that normally draws about 25
students. To date 64 have signed up, "and others are still
asking to get in," he reported.

In an era when voter turnout is shamefully low,
particularly among the 18 to 25 set, signs like these are
heartening. Will an increased passion for things political
(and concerted get-out-the-vote efforts made by youth voter
organizations like Rock the Vote and Declare Yourself)
translate into a stronger than usual student turnout at the
polls come November? Crenson is optimistic. Hopkins
students — bright, committed, talented, insightful
— will be casting votes in larger than usual numbers,
he believes.